Reach for the Stars
by Tricklesteria
Summary: Roxas is a normal high school student who enjoys hanging out with his friends and eating sea salt ice cream atop the clock tower on lazy afternoons. When the new kid comes, he's not sure why but all of a sudden it's not enough anymore.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any Kingdom Hearts characters.

--

Roxas woke up to his alarm clock at exactly 7:15 in the morning. He quickly brushed his teeth, ate breakfast and kissed his mom on the cheek before grabbing his skateboard and heading out to school.

"Have a good day, honey! Be careful!" she yelled after him.

"I will, Mom! Don't worry!" Roxas yelled back.

--

He met up with his three buddies at the station just as the train pulled up.

"Hey Roxas," his best friend, Hayner, called out. "We're getting together to practice for the next Struggle tournament after school. Don't forget," he reminded.

Roxas smiled. "Like I would ever forget."

"We _can't_ let Seifer win again this year," said Olette, with her eyes shining with determination as they stepped on board the train and sat down.

Pence chuckled. "You know, Olette, you sound almost more motivated than Hayner. But only almost."

Olette just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. _I_ just think he's been sort of an arrogant jerk lately, and it would do the whole _town_ some good if either Hayner or Roxas beat him this year."

"Don't worry! We will definitely win the tournament this time. Won't we, Roxas?" Hayner supplied.

"Of course," said Roxas confidently. And then, "Hey, this is our stop," and he stood up to get off the train.

--

School went by pretty uneventfully, as it did every day. Throughout the day, Roxas tried hard to concentrate in his classes and not to think about the upcoming Struggle tournaments that were coming up. Even though he had assured Hayner that one of them would win, in fact he still had doubts. Seifer was, undeniably, a difficult opponent. Roxas had learned that the hard way last year. But surely their extra practice this year would pay off? But hadn't he and Hayner always practiced hard? What was to say that this year would not just be a repeat of last year? If Seifer had gotten stronger over the course of this year as well…

His thoughts were interrupted by the school bell ringing, signifying the end of class. _Finally_, thought Roxas, even if he felt a little guilty for not listening to the teacher that day.

"Roxas! You coming?" Hayner was waiting by classroom door impatiently.

"Yeah!" said Roxas.

They spent the afternoon honing their skills. Roxas hoped that he had improved, at least a little, during the practice. That way he would have _something_ to show for his hard work, since the tournament was coming up in only three days.

"Roxas! Heads up!" Hayner shouted right before lunging over with his bat. Roxas grinned, gripping his own bat to parry Hayner's attacks.

--

Tired out from practice, he sat on the great clock tower overlooking Twilight Town watching the sunset with his friends. Olette had treated them all to sea-salt ice cream, the perfect way to end the day. Now she and Hayner were chatting away about the Struggle tournament, while Pence was sitting by and agreeing to everything they said. A peaceful smile spread across Roxas's face as he slowly licked the sweet-salty-ness off his popsicle stick and stared off at the reddening sky. He wouldn't have given up this moment for anything in the world.

--

The next morning, Roxas woke up at 7:13, two minutes before his alarm clock went off. Hm? _That's strange…_ he thought. It was only two minutes, but what had woken him up? He glanced around the room for anything out of the ordinary, but found nothing. _Oh well_, he thought, slightly uneasily, before getting up to run through his morning routine.

"Have a good day, honey!" his mom called out to him.

"I will, Mom! Don't worry!"

--

"Hey Roxas!" Hayner, Olette, and Pence greeted him as he skateboarded over to the train station. Roxas gave them a greeting in return as he made to step onto the train.

And tripped on the steps…

"Woah there! Are you alright?"… and crashed into a body.

"Yeah, thanks. Sorry about that." Roxas said as he got up and looked over at the sound of the new voice to see the person whom he had crashed into. But he wished he hadn't looked because now he just couldn't stop gaping. Hayner, Pence and Olette followed Roxas onto the train in confusion.

"Hey Roxas wh-" but Olette didn't finish her sentence. She was also staring, now. "Who are you?" she asked the stranger, cautiously.

Roxas was still staring. It was a boy. He had messy brown hair, blue eyes, and a nervous smile. "Me? I'm Sora." He said, still smiling. "Umm…And you are…"

"Hayner. Roxas. Pence. Olette." Hayner pointed out as he spoke.

Sora nodded. "I see…"

"Well… haven't seen you before," Hayner said suspiciously. "What part of Twilight Town are you from?"

"Umm. O-other side of town." Sora said. He looked worried. Roxas could tell by the way he was biting his lip, and he had never seen this guy before.

_What's with this guy?_

Olette smiled at Sora. Roxas could tell that it wasn't forced, but it wasn't completely natural either. "So Sora, what brings you over to Westside? Did you come to see the Struggle Tournaments or something?"

Sora looked…confused? "Maybe… something like that," he said, carefully. "I mean, I'm excited for the Tournaments, I guess, but that's not the main reason I'm here. But I mean it's definitely one of the reasons, just not the _only _one. Well actually, it's a combination of reasons, really, and part of that is definitely because of this Struggle tournament…" He was starting to talk really fast and really repetitively, and he was fidgeting and tugging on his shirt. _Definitely nervous_.

Hayner chuckled. "Well then, care to tell us why you're here, if not for the Tournaments, _Mr. Mysterious_? Or do you have to kill us if you tell us?" Hayner was teasing, but it was all in good fun. Sora saw this, and visibly relaxed.

"Actually, I'm looking for my friends. They, um, disappeared a few days ago. I've no idea where they went."

"What do you mean? You mean 'disappeared' like… vanished?" Pence spoke up for the first time.

"Well, not exactly…"

"Nah, Pence. Sora just means that he sort of lost contact with them, and he thought maybe they came over to this side of town, right Sora?" Roxas said. But he had a nagging feeling that it really _wasn't_ what Sora had meant at all.

"Um," was all Sora could say.

The train screeched to a stop.

"Aww," said Hayner. "Look, we gotta go. This is our stop. C'mon guys. See you around, Sora."

They quickly got off. But Roxas hesitated, and turned around, noticing that Sora was looking pretty miserable. "Sorry again for crashing into you earlier. And… I hope you find your friends, Sora," Roxas said, honestly.

And then Sora smiled. It was a small smile – not one of those dazzling smiles that the popular kids at school always shine your way when they want something from you, or one of those fake smiles that you direct at a camera when you say "cheese", or even one of those real smiles that Roxas gave his mother each morning. Roxas didn't know how to describe it; it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. All Roxas _did_ know was that Sora had a very beautiful smile.

--

School was pretty uneventful again. Roxas sat in his seat, trying to pay attention but ended up looking out the window, eyes wandering as much as his mind was. His thoughts were in a jumble today, as he thought about the boy from the train earlier. Who was he? He was Sora, but _who_ was he? It was actually somewhat frightening not to know.

Roxas couldn't help but notice that Sora had looked confused when Olette brought up the Struggle Tournament. _What? Everyone knows about the Tournaments…_ Plus, something fishy was going on with Sora's search for his friends. It definitely was not just a simple search. Sora was hiding something – a malicious secret?

And then there was the obvious thing that they had all – Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Roxas – avoided mentioning after meeting Sora. Well, at least Roxas thought it was obvious…

_He looks just like me._ Roxas felt a strange feeling that he had never felt before. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't think he liked it. The bell rang, and Hayner called out to him, but Roxas didn't want to get up. He just wished that the world would stop for a while and let him gather his thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy characters belong to Square-Enix, not me.

--

"Roxas? What's wrong?" asked Olette worriedly. "You getting tired? Do you need to rest a bit? We don't want you getting sick before the Tournament, all right?"

"Roxas, you alright?" asked Pence. "You're spacing out."

Roxas was jolted out of his thoughts. Somehow his feet had taken him out of the school and they were now sitting on top of the clock tower. "I'm fine," he assured his friends. Which was not a lie. After all, why _shouldn't_ he be fine? "That guy from earlier…Sora. Do you think he was lying?"

"What?" Hayner asked, surprised. "Why would you think that? What would he be lying _about_?" Hayner gave Roxas a curious look.

"I don't think he's from Twilight Town." Roxas said it, but he knew _it_ wasn't going to be taken seriously.

Hayner snorted. "_Right,_ Roxas. How can he _not_ be from Twilight Town? Where's he from then? _Outer space_? Puh-leeze. He probably just doesn't go out that much, or we've probably just never noticed him around before, even if it _is_ a small town. Plus, he's from Eastside. We don't hang out there as much."

Roxas was getting that weird feeling again. Something seemed to spark inside him, and his heart started beating a little faster.

"You're thinking too much, Roxas," said Pence, quietly.

"Yeah, Roxas," said Olette, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Gosh, is _that_ why you've been so spacey today? I _swear_ I thought you were getting sick or something like that…"

And Roxas tuned out the sound of his friends' idle chattering about the Struggle Tournament, as he once again stared out at the orange-y sunset, contemplating. Maybe Pence was right, and he was just thinking too much.

--

Roxas was on his way home that night, when he saw Sora again. He was sitting alone on the porch outside the Moogle Shop, looking up at something in the sky, seemingly lost in thought. Something about that look, filled with sadness and longing, seemed to strike a familiar chord in Roxas.

"Hey Sora," Roxas greeted.

Sora flashed Roxas a grin. "Hey you. It's Roxas, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Roxas sat down on the porch beside Sora and looked up, realizing that Sora was looking at the stars. Some unspoken sort of understanding seemed to hang in the silence, but it was uncomfortable nevertheless.

Roxas tried to start a conversation. "So… you found your friends?"

Sora shook his head sadly. "Nah. I'm not giving up though."

"I'm sorry," said Roxas. He didn't know what else to say, and there was silence again.

"Have you ever thought that we look really similar?" Sora blurted out.

Slightly surprised, but glad that Sora brought it up first, Roxas nodded. "Yeah. I've thought about it." He smiled, and then looked back up at the stars. "We do."

Roxas spoke again. "You know, I've always liked looking at the sunset. It's really beautiful. But I've never really thought that the stars could be equally beautiful."

"Really?"

"I know that it's supposed to be romantic and all that, the starry sky. I've never been too interested, though, so I guess I just never _really_ looked," Roxas admitted.

Sora nodded. "I feel the same. Back where I'm from, it was the ocean that we looked at. Me and my friends," Sora smiled that special smile again that Roxas thought was beautiful. It was a rather paradoxical expression: so happy yet so sad at the same time. "It wasn't until recently that I realized that the real answers were in the stars." He said this last bit more to himself, Roxas thought.

"What were you looking…for?" Roxas asked.

"Adventure." Sora answered, without skipping a beat.

It was getting late but Roxas didn't care. Sora's eyes were gleaming with something that made Roxas's heart beat faster and get that unfamiliar feeling again. _Excitement_. And then he thought of something.

"The ocean? You mean you grew up at the beach?"

"Well, sort of."

Maybe it was the fact that he had never seen Sora before today, or it was the constant evasiveness of Sora's answers, or that distant, faraway look in his eyes, but somehow Roxas knew that–

"Sora, you're not from this world, are you?" Or maybe it was just Roxas's desperate, secret hope – so secret that he hadn't realized until now – that there was something more than what he knew – what he had - now. _No. No, you're not – you're definitely not from here. You're from somewhere else, somewhere beautiful - somewhere else that's not here. Right?_

Sora only smiled. And he took Roxas's cold hand in his warm ones, squeezing it softly. "But can you keep it a secret?" he whispered.

His heart skipped a beat and his head began to spin, and suddenly Roxas felt slightly dizzy, like he forgot how to breathe. Or maybe he had just never known to breathe and only realized it now. "But – how?" He followed Sora's gaze back up at the sky – the stars. "What…?"

It was getting late now, and Sora said so. "Won't your parents be worried?"

Roxas looked over at the other. "I guess I should be going. But Sora, don't you have anywhere to stay tonight?"

Sora grinned. "I'm staying with them," pointing behind him at the shop. "Don't worry. The Moogles know about me."

Roxas nodded, head spinning and confused.

He walked home alone.

--

Something was wrong. Roxas could barely wake up on time in the morning – he had spent last night thinking about his conversation with Sora. He rushed through the morning and wolfed down his breakfast.

"Have a good day honey! Be careful!" his mother called out.

"Right! You too!" said Roxas, feeling slightly disoriented.

--

At the station, Hayner and Olette chattered about school and the Tournament while Pence listened and nodded. It was an engaging subject, and it was what they talked about every day. But somehow Roxas didn't feel interested in the conversation. _Is that all we ever talk about?_ They got on the train.

"Hey Roxas, what are you thinking?" asked Pence, who had somehow broken away from Hayner and Olette's discussion on which contenders were going to be a threat at this year's tournament.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"I wonder if that guy, Sora, is still around here somewhere," Pence mused out loud.

"Yeah. He probably is, though. I don't think he's found his friends yet," said Roxas. "I feel bad for him though. Imagine just waking up one day and your friends aren't… there."

"Right…" Pence said.

"Well, maybe we should help him," said Roxas.

"Maybe." But Pence said this half-heartedly as if he wasn't really all that interested. "But maybe we should focus on the Struggle Tournament first. It _is_ tomorrow, after all."

"Oh yeah…" Roxas had almost forgotten about the Stuggle Tournament. But all of a sudden it didn't seem as important as it had seemed two days ago.

--

In class, Roxas tried paying attention. In Science they were doing a unit on astronomy and learning about the constellations in the sky. Roxas thought back to the mysterious night sky and stars from yesterday and compared it to the diagrams of labeled patterns of each of the stars, which were categorized and grouped and analyzed by his high school teacher. These stars here made up the Big Dipper. This group was Orion. Here was Gemini. And for once Roxas had no trouble focusing on the lecture as the teacher explained the stars, group by group.

--

Practice went by horribly today as well, possibly even worse than the day before. Roxas just couldn't focus.

"Roxas. Take a break." Hayner commanded. They made their way to the Usual Spot for a breather.

"Roxas, what's wrong?" asked Olette. "It's right before the Tournament! Is it nerves? You've never performed this poorly before."  
"I don't understand, Roxas," Hayner looked irritated, but also worried. "What's up? Don't you want to beat Seifer anymore?"

"I'm fine," Roxas said, somewhat angrily. "Sorry." The truth was, though, he _wasn't _fine. He was looking at Hayner and the others, but all he could think about was Sora. Sora, and his oceans and stars and sunsets and _adventures_ and the Moogles and his search for his friends. Sora, his almost-twin, who had the same eyes, was the same height, and the same age, but who had a completely different life. Sora, whose smile was deep and intriguing it made Roxas so curious and so jealous.

But he was looking at Hayner, and all Hayner could talk about was the Struggle Tournament and Seifer and … that was it.

"Well anyways," said Hayner. "Olette and I were talking about Seifer's killer move earlier. I think we've found a strategy to counter it. See, his weakness is that he is always looking ahead of him. There's a split second when he is completely vulnerable, right before he lunges…"

Somehow, it was difficult, listening to Hayner analyze Seifer's fighting style. _Geez. My life is so boring. _It was true. Compared to Sora's. _Sora_. They seemed so similar at first glance, but Sora had traversed the different worlds and probably had more excitement last week than Roxas ever experienced in his whole lifetime. That… was depressing.

"Here you go, Roxas." Pence was holding a bar of sea-salt ice cream to Roxas's face. "Thought this might encourage you, or at least improve your spirits a bit."

"Thanks," said Roxas, gratefully, beginning on the treat. Well, at least the ice cream still tasted divine.

"Oh, yeah. I ran into Sora on my way back," said Pence nonchalantly. "We chatted a bit."

Roxas's body gave an involuntary lurch as he snapped his head up. "Really? What was he up to?"

"Dunno. Said something about getting 'parts' for something. I didn't really understand. He seemed kinda busy though. But he asked about you, Roxas," said Pence.

"Roxas! You've seen him after yesterday?" said Olette. "Did something happen between you two?"

"N-no! I saw him…but nothing happened… We just talked for awhile." said Roxas, uncertainly. Except that the conversation caused Roxas to think back and evaluate his entire life. He would say he was having a mid-life crisis, except he was only a teenager.

"Really?" asked Hayner suspiciously. "Roxas, to tell you the truth, I don't think you should mess with him. Something's different about him. I could see it in his eyes. It's like he _knows_ something."

"That's not what you said yesterday," said Roxas. Well, of _course_ there was something different about him. He's not even from this _world_. But he couldn't tell Hayner that.

"Well, Roxas, I can't just let this slide now that it's interfering with your performance." Hayner shook his head disappointedly. "We need to win this year."

Roxas had never been less than completely satisfied with his life before now. And he really didn't see how Sora coming into town should change all of that, but it did. He still loved his mother, loved his friends – loved this town, right? It was enough for him. Or it _had_ been. But now his mind screamed, _Fake_. This life. Why? It was the same repetitive routine every day. He got up and went to school. He spaced out in class. He practiced for the Tournament. They were almost always training, no matter how far off the Tournament was. He could probably get by each day in his life blindfolded, and nobody would notice.

And Roxas knew that neither he nor Hayner was going to win tomorrow. Seifer was going to beat them, like he did last year, the year before that, and every _single_ year before. But not to worry, Hayner would say. Because _next year_ was going to be better. All he had to do was train harder. Every day. And they would _definitely _win, the next time around. But what was the point of it all, he found himself wondering.

This was Roxas's world.

_Now, what about Sora's?_

--

"I'm leaving tonight," said Sora that evening. They were standing in front of the Mog Shop.

"What? You're – why?" asked Roxas. He knew Sora couldn't stay forever, obviously, but this was so sudden! _Just when we were getting to know each other, too…_

"I can't stay. I'm in a rush. You wouldn't understand… But Roxas!" Sora said with a huge grin. "You didn't tell me you were competing in the Tournament!"

Roxas flushed. "It's not that big of a deal…"

"No! It is! It must be very exciting." He seemed a little sad. "Too bad I'm gonna miss it, though…"

"I really do wish you could have stayed, though, Sora." And Roxas meant it, he realized. He frowned. "How are you leaving, anyway? You got a spaceship, or something?"

"Mmhmm… But don't worry about it, Roxas. I just wanted to say goodbye." _Wait, really? A ship?_

"Oh. W-well, see you around then." Roxas looked at Sora. So he was leaving. Before Roxas had time to figure out his feelings, too. _Wait, what feelings? It's not like I have a choice or anything..._

"Maybe you could come with me?" Sora blurted out. He looked…hopeful? And Roxas realized that this was the question that he had been asking for. "Really?"

Sora flinched. "Uhh… haha… I was just joking… Of course you wouldn't want to…"

But Roxas was persistent. "You would let me though? You want me to?"

Sora looked uncomfortable. "I- well- Goodbye, Roxas." And he turned to go.

Roxas really did love his life. It was carefree, fun, and the very few worries that he had were trivial. Though it was a little boring. And mundane. It wasn't perfect, but it was still very good. Not everyone could have wild and exciting adventures like he was sure Sora had. Still, he couldn't just pass this opportunity up. He had to do this, see what's out there. What he missed. _Sorry Hayner, Pence. Olette. Sorry Mom._ He grinned.

"Hey Sora."

Sora turned around, slowly. "Yes?"

"I think I'll take you up on that offer."

And Sora smiled that beautiful smile again, except this time it was directed at _Roxas_.

"So Sora, how are we getting to your ship, anyway?" Roxas couldn't believe that he was going to go into outer space.

"Why, we'll take the train, of course."

--

Roxas gaped at the thing. It really _was_ a ship. The Excalibur, or something like that. But… It really _was_. A ship. It looked so… majestic.

Sora walked up to two figures flanking the entrance. They seemed to be on the lookout. There was a young girl in the teens with short dark hair and an older looking man looking to be in his thirties.

"Sora! You're back! How did it go?" asked the girl. "Did you find Riku and Kairi?"

Sora smiled sadly and shook his head. "Let's go."

"No such luck…? Aww, we'll get'em though. Don't worry about it, kid… But who is this? A new crewmate?" the man asked, turning his eyes on Roxas.

"Yes. His name is Roxas. And don't harass him, guys," said Sora, as he walked towards the ship.

Sora's companions were staring, as if in awe.

"Aww Sora, he's cute and he looks like you!" said the girl, giving Roxas a huge grin.

Roxas gulped. Sora chuckled. Roxas turned to Sora questioningly, who just smiled again, cheerily this time.

"Well, Roxas, meet your new crewmates. And welcome aboard."

--

Fin


End file.
